Effects of Green Tea Gargling on the Prevention of Influenza Infection in High School Students

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The anti-influenza virus activity of green tea components has been demonstrated in experimental studies. To clarify the effects of green tea gargling on influenza infection, a randomized, 2-group parallel study of 757 high school students conducted for 90 days. The green tea gargling group gargled 3 times a day with bottled green tea, and the water gargling group did the same with tap water. Multivariate logistic regression indicated no significant difference in the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza between the green tea group (19 participants; 4.9%) and the water group (25 participants; 6.9%) (adjusted OR, 0.69; 95%CI, 0.37 to 1.28; P = 0.24). The adherence rate among high school students was lower than expected. Among high school students, gargling with green tea was not significantly more efficacious than gargling with water. In order to adequately assess the effectiveness of such gargling, additional large-scale randomized studies are needed.